Road Extension Causes Concern

100 Homes Are In Path Of One Proposed Route

Royal Palm Beach — A battle is shaping up between state transportation officials and residents of The Acreage who fear a planned highway extension could force them from their homes.

Nearly 400 people packed the Cultural Center in Royal Palm Beach Wednesday night in a public workshop to select one of three proposed expansions of State Road 7 west of Florida's Turnpike between Okeechobee and Northlake boulevards. But many of the attendees left in a huff after Department of Transportation officials limited the overflow crowd to six questions and failed to address some of the residents' most critical concerns.

"They don't care what we have to say, there's not even enough forms [for public input]," said Susan Redfield, whose Carrolton Oaks home lies near one of the proposed expansion routes. "I only found out about this a month ago. I'm in disbelief."

To ease traffic congestion in the rapidly growing western region of Palm Beach County, the Department of Transportation has proposed expanding State Road 7 west of the West Palm Beach Catchment Area. The estimated $100 million project is one of a series of western roadway expansions included in the county's 2030 long-range development plan.

The problem is that the State Road 7 expansion route with the least environmental impact would direct traffic through two affluent housing communities: Bay Hill Estates and Rustic Lakes, located across from the Ibis Golf and Country Club. More than 100 homes would need to be destroyed to accommodate the highway expansion, which would not begin before 2009.

Fearing their homes could be lost, residents of Bay Hill and Rustic Lakes are taking action. They've launched a formal citizens committee to oppose that expansion route, developed a Web site, and collected more than 1,000 signatures to endorse an alternate plan to expand directly north of the current State Road 7. That plan would not threaten homes but likely would interfere with native bird nesting and habitat, said Beatriz Caicedo-Maddison of the Department of Transportation. The citizens committee also has drafted a letter to Gov. Jeb Bush, claiming the Department of Transportation has exaggerated the environmental impact of the alternative route.

Jonathan Edelheit, a member of the State Road 7 Civic Committee, said the state is pushing a proposal that "99 percent of the residents here don't want."

Edelheit is typical of many of the residents of these growing communities of young families. He said he moved to Rustic Lakes from Boca Raton three years ago seeking more space to call home. His said his 5-acre property has a large pond where sandhill cranes and other birds flock at night. It's a life he says he could have never afforded farther east.

"We're doing this all on our own; the [Department of Transportation] is not asking us to be a part of the process," Edelheit said. "We have a lot at stake."